Welcome, Autumn!

I am in love with Autumn.  It has always been my favorite season.  As soon as Labor Day has come and gone I start to get those excited little shivers and I know that Autumn is almost here!  There is so much to love about this season!  The colors, the decorations, the holidays (isn't Halloween the best?  I love it!), sweaters, the back-to-school supplies in stores, pumpkins, new routines, harvest produce, autumn-themed library books, corn mazes, crisp jacket weather.

Back-to-school time has been one of my favorite times of  year since I was five.  The first two years of Katelee's life were the only two years of mine that I haven't either been an enthusiastic student or an excited teacher when back-to-school time came.  I love school!  But this year, Katelee and I have started 'mommy' school.  (Don't ask me why we don't call it 'Katelee' school, Katelee just loves calling it mommy school!)  I am not sending her to preschool, so we have our little school ourselves.  I wish I could say I was perfectly consistent and that we had it everyday, but my life doesn't work that way!  Mostly we have it whenever Katelee thinks to ask about it, which is a few times a week.  And Katelee loves it!  We've done art projects, simple science experiments, writing, drawing, and more.  It's amazing the easy and fun things you can find to do online.  I try to shake it up and do something different each day.  Katelee has always been fascinated with letters, so she knows already how to recognize each capital and small letter and she knows what sounds each letter makes.  So we've begun working on writing the letters.  This is her first letter A.  We practiced on the chalkboard first for quite awhile, and then moved to this smaller worksheet.  I obviously helped her with her first letter on each line, but she did the others (mostly) on her own!
I also love the decorations and colors of this time of year!  Katelee and I decorated already, and we had a fun time doing it!  She loves putty our sticky fall leaves on the windows.  She also loves these pumpkins and the scarecrow, and wanted me to take a picture of them.  Also, I am SO making these darling fabric pumpkins when I get a few minutes; I've already bought the materials and think they will look amazing on my mantel!

When I had a garden, I loved this time of  year because it was the time you finally got to enjoy all the produce!  I don't have a garden this year, but I still love all the beautiful colors in the grocery store and I get so excited about canning.  I think preserving your own food is probably one of the most satisfying things to do!  If you haven't ever bottled your own fruit, you should try.  It's really not that hard; in fact, I find it rather fun, especially if you have someone else to work with.  This year was the first time I did it all on my own, though, and it still wasn't that hard.  The jars look so pretty, the fruit tastes so much better (not to mention it's healthier - I make mine with light syrup, so there's less sugar and no preservatives), and it's an incredibly inexpensive way to stock up your food storage.  So far, I have learned to bottle peaches, pears, strawberry jam, apple sauce, apple pie filling, and salsa (not all at once!) - and all of them have been easy enough for a beginner.  Pioneer Woman's website has very easy instructions here if you are interested in learning more.    
Now I'm just waiting for the weather to start cooling off.  It's still been quite hot here in Denver.  I hope we have a nice long Autumn this year, full of crisp bright days perfect for walks or going to the park.  And I can't wait to pull out my sweaters and jackets.  There's nothing cozier than a sunny day that calls for your favorite comfy jacket. 

Welcome, Autumn.  I'm glad you're here.